Text is the Preface to the Book- Making Hill Areas Great Places To Live.- defining the entire context of Planning, designing Hill Settlement and making built environment, safe, sustainable, qualitative, Qualitative and environment responsive.

1. Preface-Making Hill Areas Great Places to Live
Jit Kumar Gupta
Hill areas and hill settlements have always been source of great attraction, fascination,
learning and inspiration besides being most prized places to visit and stay in my life
spanning about 79 years. Hill areas have been valued for the reasons, they are known
to be reservoir and storehouse, having abundance of natural resources, quality
environment, diverse ecology, unique bio-diversity, simplicity, walkability and wealth of
flora and fauna. These natural assets are known to be crucial and critical for the balanced
growth and sustainable development of any community, state and nation. However,
during journeys made to hill areas, it was observed that despite being bestowed with
enormous natural gifts, hill areas, due to its sensitivity and fragility, are fast becoming
victim of the developmental forces generated by ever rising population, concentration of
population in few settlements, rapid in-migration, uncontrolled tourism, unplanned
development, haphazard urbanisation , increasing mobility, mechanised traffic and
transportation, and increasing globalisation. Under the impact of unplanned and
unregulated development, majority of natural gifts of hill areas are being diluted, muted,
marginalized and destroyed.
Majority of emerging challenges can be attributed to the manner in which scarce and
valuable land resource in the hill areas is being used, abused, diverted,
deprived/denuded of its valuable resources and being sub-divided for conversion from
forest/agriculture to non-agricultural uses involving residential , commercial, industrial,
institutional, transportation and tourism. In addition, hill areas are also suffering due to
unplanned and haphazard manner in which buildings are being planned, designed and
constructed, without caring for the existing terrain, slope, fragility, vulnerability, load

2. bearing capacity, flora and fauna. In addition, irrational and unscientific pattern of
planning, designing and creating highways have also made hill states vulnerable to soil
erosion, landslides, climate change and global warming.
Under the impact of ever increasing developmental pressure generated during last
seven decades, hill areas in India have recorded rapid population and physical growth
besides increased demand for land, infrastructures, services and amenities in the hill
settlements, for catering to the needs of the people and activities housed therein and
large number of tourists/ visitors coming into the hill areas. It needs to be understood and
appreciated that considering fragility and sensitivity; various development activities
undertaken in hill areas, without caring, valuing and giving due consideration to local
resources and prevailing eco-system, are known to adversely impact the environment
and ecological balance of hill areas
Considering the criticality, role, relevance and importance for humanity and communities,
the natural gifts available in hill area, deserve appropriate protection and scientific
preservation. Accordingly, hill areas need to be understood and appreciated for its
strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, related to its physical, structural,
environmental, cultural and social peculiarities before suggesting policies and launching
programs to make then sustainable.
Looking at the uniqueness, peculiarities and complexities, promoting planned
development of hill settlements and designing & construction of sustainable buildings
in hill areas, invariably remains challenging, complex and intricate task, requiring
different and distinct professional skillsets and thorough knowledge and understanding
of the basic structure/fabric of the hill areas. It also requires understanding and
appreciation of valuable resources, fragile environment, diverse ecology ,bio-diversity,
flora and fauna. These resources need to be protected, preserved and promoted along
with evolving sustainable options of making them safe against natural and manmade
disasters during the process of planning and designing of hill settlements and structures.
Despite the fact, hill areas occupy about one-sixth of the total geographical land mass
of the country and provide space for living and working to 10% of the total population, still
India, as a, nation, does not have any dedicated course and institution for planning and
designing of hill settlements and construction of buildings in hill areas. Planning human
settlements and construction of buildings in hill areas is either missing or is being offered
as an optional subject in the course curricula, defined in the syllabi of architectural and
engineering courses. Even literature available in the domain of planning of hill towns and
designing of buildings in hill settlements in the country also remains limited, far and few
which has diluted and marginalized the entire context of hill areas, in terms of physical
planning and architectural vocabulary. Majority of work related to planning and designing
of human settlements and constructing buildings in hill areas is being done on the

3. analogy of plain areas of the country, which has led to creating numerous development
and construction problems in hill settlements.
In order to bridge the gap, existing in the available literature, techniques and
methodologies, for planning of human settlements and designing/construction of
buildings in hill areas, it was thought prudent that a book, exclusively dedicated to both,
sustainable development and the built environment in hills, must be brought out on
priority, in order to create literature for the reference of professionals on issues of
vulnerability prevailing in hill states and possible options to address the emerging
developmental challenges. Besides bridging the gap existing in literature available on the
planning and designing of hill areas; the book is the outcome and has genesis in detailed
and in- depth discussions held with professional architects of state of Himachal Pradesh
to make the state and built environment safe, in the wake of large scale damage/
destruction/havoc cause by recent heavy rains, to the built environment, flora& fauna,
human beings and animals, in number of settlements falling in the hill state
Writing this book on hill areas, was both a challenge and a difficult task because of the
complexity and vastness of the subject and large variations which exist in population,
settlement structure, physical, social, economic characteristics, climate, culture,
physiography, topography, environment, ecology, resource and prevailing flora and
fauna, in the hill states of India, spanning the entire North- East and North- Westen part
of the nation. Considering the vastness , complexity, uniqueness, prevailing dualities and
contradictions in hill areas of the country , it was difficult to address the entire length,
breadth and depth of growth and development of hill areas in a holistic way, in a single
document. Further, the book is based on my limited involvement, knowledge and
understanding of the entire gamut of hill area planning, growth and development, which I
have been able to experience/ gain/gather, during my learning the art and science of
physical planning during my studies in the course of Master’s in City and Regional
Planning in the Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar; numerous visits made to hill areas;
detailed interactions held with experts during numerous seminars and workshops,
organized by the Town Planning Department and Architects, on the forum of Institute of
Town Planners and Indian institute of Architects; presentations made in the Himachal
State Institute of Public Administration and learning made during numerous interactions
held with students and faculty of Architecture and Sustainable Development in Hamirpur
and Nagrota Bagwan. For overcoming the challenge of limitation in the skill and
knowledge of Hill areas, valuable contribution was made by my co-author, Ar. Nand Lal
Chandel, former Architect-in – Chief, Department of Architecture, Himachal Pradesh, with
more than four decades of experience in Himachal, for enriching the text, which is
gratefully acknowledged.
Despite limitations , effort has been made to cover the entire gamut of planning and
designing of hill settlements and defining sustainable built environment, without

4. marginalizing the environment and ecology. In order to promote the rational and
sustainable planning and development of hill settlements, detailed intent, content and
methodology has been defined in terms of preparing realistic Development/Master Plans
of the hill settlements and its effective implementation. Suggested framework includes
confining the development of hill town within the defined urban limits and avoiding
sporadic /spread/peri-urban development, in order to minimise the misuse of land; make
urban development compact; make cities walkable and providing basic services cost-
effective and efficient. In addition, carrying out ,land suitability analysis has been
suggested for rationalizing and bringing objectivity in urban planning, for identifying areas
suitable for urbanization in hills. Mechanism of Town Planning Scheme has been
suggested as an option, to eliminate the acquisition of land and depriving farmers from
their precious land resource. Scheme helps in making land owners, co-parceners/integral
part of urban planning process for sharing the benefit of rapid urbanization. Book also
makes a detailed reference to the guidelines framed by The Indian Green Buildings
Council, regarding making hill cities green, sustainable, resource/energy efficient and
generators of minimum waste beside providers of quality living. Book also showcases
the provisions put in place for making hill cities sustainable in USA, citing the example of
hill city of Santa Rosa- California, to work as guidelines, for rationalizing the construction
of buildings and to make it supportive of the local environment and ecology.
In addition to looking at the planned and sustainable development of urban settlements,
book also focuses on providing guidelines to the architects/engineers regarding making
built environment sustainable. Book includes de,fining factors which must be valued and
kept in mind while selecting sites in hill areas for construction of buildings/location of
projects along with siting of buildings in the site plans for the architectural projects. In
order to ensure that built environment remains sustainable, book also provides detailed
principles, guidelines and methodology of planning, designing and construction of
buildings, including the options to be used for making buildings sustainable , cost-
effective and energy efficient over the entire life cycle of the buildings. Book also details
out the example of SECMOL school building, constructed in Leh, as a role model of
sustainable, vernacular and solar passive architecture. The building remains zero-energy
and zero-waste. In addition to looking at the new development, book also looks at the
causes which led to numerous disasters in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh and suggest
options to minimize and eliminate the chances of such disasters taking place again in
future.
Tourism , which has done more damage than good to the environment and ecology in hill
areas, has been dealt specifically by providing detailed study in two distinct chapters ,
which underlines the need for promoting sustainable tourism in the hill states. In addition,
looking at the enormous wealth of the manmade and natural heritage existing in the hill
state, agenda for promoting and managing heritage based tourism has also been
included and detailed in the book. While defining the agenda for sustainable tourism,

5. reference has been made to the best global practices and national tourism policy, put in
place by the government of India, to make tourism rational and sustainable.
This book titled, ‘Making Hills Great Places to Live’, is the nineteenth book in the series,
of my humble endeavor to make value addition to the available literature in the domain
of urban planning and architecture. My earlier books focused on subjects related to
healthcare, planning, architecture, environment, sustainability, shelter, heritage, land,
human settlements, Capital city of Chandigarh, Religious Capital Amritsar and Decoding
SDG11. I am indebted to Institute of Town Planners India, for publishing my two books
namely; Housing and Habitat Planning and Heritage Conservation and preservation, as
Readers’ Volumes; Institute of Architects for publishing my book, ’Readers Volume on
Housing; J K Cement for the book,’ Making Cities Great Places to Live”, Mr. N. K. Patel,
President ITPI for the book, ’Sourcing Land for urban Development”; Hindu College of
Planning and Architecture, Sonipat for the book Architecture Teaching Learning -Way
Forward” and Copal Publishers for printing the book- Decoding SDG11-Making Cities and
Communities- livable safe , resilient and inclusive.’
Looking at the entire context, I would like to dedicate the book, ‘Making Hills Great Places
to Live ’, to the people of hill areas; community of learned professionals, practitioners
and researchers engaged in the art and science of teaching and practicing architecture
and engineering; professions of architecture, physical planning, urban development,
construction and policy makers involved with the growth and development of Hill areas/hill
settlements in India. I hope, contents of the book shall be critically and objectively looked
into by all the stakeholders involved in the governance, management, planning of hill
settlements and designing and construction of built environment in the hill states of India,
town planning professionals , architectural fraternity faculty and researchers. Book is
intended to provide an overview of existing status of Hill areas of India and
problems/issues/challenges faced in the process of its growth and development, besides
suggesting different options/approached for making Hill areas role model of sustainable
development. It is hoped the book will help, support and make value addition to teaching
learning of both students and the faculty in the domain of hill areas; understand the
context and fine grains of hill settlements/area with more clarity; offering enough material
for researchers to look into finer elements of the hill areas to take the study forward for
effectively weaving hill areas in the national fabric.
I would like to dedicate this book to the sacred memory of my mother, Late Smt. Leela
Gupta who, as a teacher, made me where I stand today in my professional career, despite
all odds and hardships she faced in bringing me up and educating me to the extent
possible; and to my Late father, Sh. Ved Parkash Gupta, whose benevolence I was
deprived of in my early childhood. I would be failing in my duties, if I don’t acknowledge
the valuable and unqualified support, given by my wife Alka and my children Akhil, Nikhil,
Sapna, Niya and Aparna, in this endeavor of writing and making this book a distinct
reality.

6. December 23, 2023
Jit Kumar Gupta
Former Advisor, Town Planning,
Punjab, Urban Planning and Urban
Development Authority, Chandigarh
.